The Russian diplomacy last year continued “in a consistent manner the activity of reestablishing the mutually advantageous pragmatic relations with Romania “in various domains, still with modest results in the political and diplomatic sphere,” Russia’s Ambassador in Bucharest Valery Kuzmin told on Friday a press conference. “We note with satisfaction that the bilateral trade turnover […]

The Russian diplomacy last year continued “in a consistent manner the activity of reestablishing the mutually advantageous pragmatic relations with Romania “in various domains, still with modest results in the political and diplomatic sphere,” Russia’s Ambassador in Bucharest Valery Kuzmin told on Friday a press conference.

“We note with satisfaction that the bilateral trade turnover in 2017 increased by 20 per cent and according to completely realistic estimates, it will reach 4 billion dollars at the end of the twelve months,” the diplomat acknowledged.

With regard to the diplomatic relations between Romania and Russia, Kuzmin brought to mind that the aircraft of the Russian Deputy Prime Minister was denied access in Romania’s airspace. In this context, Russia’s Ambassador said “that certain circles in Bucharest behave as that Catholic who would have wanted to be a better Catholic than the Pope himself – trying to complicate the establishment of some dialogue channels, even despite the well known decision of the NATO Summit in Warsaw regarding the need for this dialogue.”

He pointed out that the sanctions imposed on Russia by the European Union do not apply when it comes to transit and highlighted that Rogozin’s aircraft had already flown over Hungary and Poland.